Holiday wish list: A thirty-year hunch

This deceptive little book is ostensibly the tale of Joseph Priestley, best known in the UK as the man who discovered oxygen and in the US as a hero of the American revolution.

But this isn't just the story of how a provincial minister with radical ideas became one of England's most important scientists and its most hated man, forced to flee to his friends in the US. It is also a compelling inquiry into the nature of scientific discovery.

As Johnson points out in the book, now published for the first time in the UK, Priestley and his fellow dabblers had advantages today's scientists must envy - an enormous range of interests, a vast breadth of knowledge, the freedom to share everything they learned and the luxury of time to think, experiment and pursue other interests without professors, managers or funding bodies breathing down their necks.

Who today could spend 30 years following a hunch?

Perfect for: any scientist in need of inspiration

Book Information:
The Invention of Air: A story of science, faith, revolution and the birth of America by Steven Johnson
Penguin, £9.99/$16

"an enormous range of interests, a vast breadth of knowledge, the freedom to share everything they learned and the luxury of time to think, experiment and pursue other interests without professors, managers or funding bodies breathing down their necks"

Range of interest I got, but I wish I had the rest of the list as well.